This deal will go through both Sony and CA’s distribution channel as combined solutions.

The partnership is focused on the mid-sized business and enterprise arena to address the data retention market, which is expected to grow US$85 billion in the next five years, according to Stephen Richards, executive vice-president, sales and field operations for CA.

“(The partnership’s) unique strength is the breath of distribution channels and we are aggressively pursuing the unitization of that,” Richards said.

He added that both firms are still working on the basis of the channel framework and potential margin for these products, which he said is at least a month away.

For Sony, this deal allows the Japanese firm to add more value to its enterprise storage solutions, such as SAIT tape drives and automated tape libraries.

“Sony felt we had extensive success in the mid market but needed a software alliance to meet customer needs. We feel we have found that partner and we are pleased with the product lineup,” said Hideki Komiyama, group executive officer for Sony Corp. and president and COO of Sony Electronics Inc.

“BrightStor provides a comprehensive set of solutions for SAN and automation of storage management. And, it maps directly to Sony’s market in which they excel. Sony’s StorStation is unique and we expect it will be a defacto standard in the mid market and have added ARCServe back up software as the first shipping solution,” said Nigel Turner, senior vice-president of BrightStor solutions for CA.

By combining SAIT with Sony’s established PetaSite mechanism this may provide 800 terabytes in an 18-inch console that is scalable, said Masashi Takao, senior general manager, storage division for Sony.

The fact that the combined CA/Sony solution would be able to handle terabytes of data could pose a huge problem in Canada for customers and resellers because of the country’s media levy law.

In terms of the media levy in Canada, Richards did not believe these combined solutions from CA and Sony would be affected. But, added that he wasn’t 100 per cent sure.

“This is more about data retention and not about copying. This will be more about companies storing their own data instead of other people’s data,” he said.

Besides addressing the mid-market, the partnership will also try to target solutions for vertical markets. One of the first will be Sony’s StorStation with mobile backup. “It is used to install and manage the solution for data protection for branch offices where the technology is stretched,” said Stephen Baker, vice-president, tape storage solutions for Sony.

Baker added that both companies are working on the concept of delivering packaged solutions for the channel. “It will be very in-depth with self-integration and it is an ideal medium to be transmitted by the channel,” Baker said.